A Context Aware Platform for Mobility in Immersive Environment

This article describes the architecture and functionality of a hardware/software platform for context aware services. The implementation of the platform requires several aspects to be taken into account at different levels: technology, algo- rithms and context-aware applications requiring reliable po- sition estimation. Within the Italian project on Virtual Immersive Commu- nications [1], we realized a multiuser immersive guide tak- ing into account several solutions and implementation for all levels. In fact, our immersive guide communicates toward heterogeneous wireless networks and collects information on the user position both indoor and outdoor through properly setup communication technologies, furnishes location infor- mation through robust algorithms, and enables access to context aware services through a graphical service-browser which interacts, following a client-server protocol, in a multi- user environments.